By a resolution adopted on 17th January, 1964, the European Fisheries Conference requested
the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:
To invite the Governments of all countries participating in the North-East Atlantic
fisheries to send representatives to a technical conference to be held as soon as
possible to prepare for the consideration of the Governments concerned a draft Convention,
on the general lines of the 1882 Convention for regulating the police of the North
Sea Fisheries, embodying a modern code for the conduct of fishing operations and of
related activities in the North-East Atlantic;
And to invite the Governments of the United States of America and Canada to send representatives
to the Conference so that the extension of the provisions of any such Convention to
the North-West Atlantic Fisheries may be considered.
A preparatory meeting of fisheries experts was held in London from 6th to 9th April,
1965, and subsequently the Conference met at Lancaster House, London, S.W.1, from
31st March to 6th April, 1966, from 17th October to 28th October, 1966, and from 6th
March to 17th March, 1967.
The Governments of the following eighteen States were represented at the Conference:
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Iceland, Ireland,
Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics, United States of America and the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Conference elected Mr. William C. Tame as Chairman of the Conference, Mr. A. J.
Aglen as Chairman of the Convention Drafting Committee, and Captain J. C. E. Cardoso
as Chairman of the Technical Committee.
On the basis of the deliberations, as recorded in the summary records of the meetings,
the Conference adopted, ad referendum, the text of the Convention which is appended as the Annex to this Final Act. The
Convention will be opened for signature in London from 1st June to 30th November,
1967.